46th Users Meeting looks to the future of Fermilab

The 2013 Fermilab Users Meeting takes place from June 12-13.

Fermilab's 46th annual Users Meeting will take place June 12-13. The meeting is an opportunity to discuss the laboratory's new physics results and future initiatives in the areas of collider, astroparticle, neutrino and accelerator physics.

"It has been an exhilarating year in particle physics," said Nikos Varelas, Users Executive Committee chair. "We have put together a great line-up of presentations that will highlight accomplishments over the past year and future plans at the Energy, Intensity and Cosmic frontiers, including R&D progress for future accelerators."

Two days before the Users Meeting, on June 10-11, the Fermilab Student and Postdoc Association will hold its New Perspectives Conference, a day and a half of talks given by undergraduate, graduate and post-doctoral students. The group will also host a poster session during the first day of the Users Meeting.

Young scientists' work will also be featured during two award presentations at the Users Meeting.

"One of my favorite parts of the annual Users Meeting is the presentation of the Universities Research Association Thesis Award and the Tollestrup Award," said Users Meeting Subcommittee Chair Greg Snow. "These awards recognize the excellent work and accomplishments of physicists early in their careers."

One of the highlights of this year's meeting will be the official handover of the International Linear Collider Technical Design Report on June 12, marking the completion of the mandate for the Global Design Effort to produce and document a design for a next-generation linear collider. After a series of ILC-related talks, GDE Director Barry Barish will hand over the Technical Design Report to International Committee for Future Accelerators Chair Pier Oddone.

A second highlight of the Users Meeting will be a farewell symposium for Fermilab Director Oddone on June 13. The symposium will cover Oddone's eight years of leadership at Fermilab and highlight some of his accomplishments. A reception will follow.

This year, scientist and popular science writer Sean Carroll, California Institute of Technology, will give a public lecture titled "Particles, Fields and the Future of Physics." The talk will take place on Wednesday, June 12, at 8 p.m. in Ramsey Auditorium. Tickets are available through the Fermilab Arts and Lecture Series.

"Fermilab's current and planned research program will address some of the most fundamental questions in particle physics," Varelas said. "The Users Meeting is a great opportunity to get a snapshot of these activities."

Fermilab docent

"Everyone hold up your thumb," says Felicia Svoboda to a group of high-school students, lifting her hand and watching them follow suit. "Ten trillion neutrinos just passed through your thumb. Did you feel it?" Some of the students shake their heads or raise their eyebrows curiously.

Svoboda's job as a Fermilab docent is to get tour groups curious about particle physics. On this day, she leads a group of students from Illinois' Rochelle Township High School around displays on the 15th floor of Fermilab's iconic main building, Wilson Hall.

In addition to serving as a "face of Fermilab," Svoboda also tries to communicate the wonder of the research done at the laboratory and the engineering required to accomplish it.

Svoboda and the laboratory's 24 other docents often take student groups, in particular, to Fermilab's machine shop to show that running a physics lab takes more than just physicists.

"Maybe some students aren't future physicists but will become engineers, machinists or technicians," says Fermilab docent manager Sue Sheehan. "We try to appeal to the interest of as many students as possible."

Dr. Ernest Moniz sworn in as 13th Secretary of Energy

From Energy.gov, May 21, 2013

Editor's note: Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz, along with Deputy Secretary Daniel Poneman, will be holding their first joint town hall meeting today at noon CT (1 p.m. ET). The meeting will be streamed live. You may submit questions in advance by e-mailing newmedia@hq.doe.gov. A video of yesterday's swearing-in ceremony is also online.

WASHINGTON—Dr. Ernest Moniz was sworn in as the nation's 13th Secretary of Energy by Deputy Energy Secretary Daniel Poneman in a ceremony this morning for the Department's employees, kicking off a busy first day that includes briefings on energy and national security as well as remarks to the 2013 Energy Efficiency Global Forum. Moniz was confirmed by the full Senate in a vote of 97-0 on May 16.

Management systems audit at Fermilab

Martha Michels

Martha Michels, acting head of the ESH&Q Section, wrote this column.

On June 3, four auditors from NSF-International Strategic Registrations will arrive at Fermilab to conduct a week of audits on all divisions and sections as part of the renewal process for ISO-14001 (environmental management systems) and OHSAS-18001 (safety management systems).

The audit process includes interviews with employees who are most knowledgeable in the area or areas being reviewed. The auditors compare what they learn from these interviews with laboratory written procedures, records and other documentation to verify that the lab's environmental and safety guidelines reflect its actual practices. Many D/S/C heads, department heads and group leaders may have an opportunity to meet one or more of the auditors during the week.

Do you need to prepare in advance? The short answer is: no. We already have a robust management system in place that has been under scrutiny since 2007, when the laboratory first became registered to ISO 14001. In the years since, surveillance audits have been conducted twice a year. All you need to do is candidly answer the questions and provide the auditors copies of documents they ask for.

Once the schedule is finalized, it will be distributed to D/S/C heads, senior safety officers and environmental officers and posted to the Fermilab ISO/OHSAS Web page.

If you need further information or have questions, contact your SSO or environmental officer. He or she will be able to further explain the process (all ESH officers are veterans of the audit campaigns).

Photos of the Day

Bubble chamber

The 15-foot bubble chamber looks especially vintage in the fog. A bubble chamber is a device used for the detection and the study of elementary particles and nuclear reactions. Charged particles from an accelerator are introduced into a super-heated liquid, each forming a trail of bubbles along its path. The trails are photographed, and by studying such pictures scientists can identify the particles and analyze the nuclear events in which they originate. Fermilab's 15-foot bubble chamber was comissioned in 1973. It is no longer operational. Photo: Donna Hicks, TD

Although no longer operational, the 15-foot bubble chamber still gets plenty of attention. The students of Most Blessed Trinity Academy enjoy a day at Fermilab. Photo courtesy of Charles Raimondi, Most Blessed Trinity Academy

Safety Update

ESH&Q weekly report,
May 21

This week's safety report, compiled by the Fermilab ESH&Q section, contains four incidents.

A visitor was diagnosed with a contusion and sprain of the left hand after a sling used to rig a 200-pound piece of equipment slipped and trapped her hand between the equipment and the support structure. This case is recordable.

A half-inch splinter became lodged in an employee's hand. He received first-aid treatment.

An employee fell and struck his left elbow on the pavement. He received first-aid treatment.

An employee experienced shoulder pain and numbness while working. The claim is pending.